Representative Murtha held a press conference in Philadelphia following the president’s speech today on the War on Terror:
Rep. John P. Murtha on Monday rejected the Bush administration’s characterization of the war in Iraq, calling it a fight against insurgents, not terrorists, and he said it was a battle the United States could not win militarily.
Murtha, a Democrat from Western Pennsylvania, reiterated his call for the withdrawal of American troops, speaking in Philadelphia about an hour after President Bush spoke a few blocks away.
Looking back to the Conflict in Somalia in 1993, Representative John Murtha had this to say:
After 18 U.S. Rangers were killed in the battle of Mogadishu, Murtha visited U.S. forces in Somalia.
Upon his return he proclaimed to the world that the Mogadishu defeat had a devastating impact on the Rangers’ morale.
Murtha said the U.S. had to no choice but to pull out now, explaining, “There’s no military solution. Some of them will tell you [that] to get [warlord Mohamed Farrah] Aidid is the solution. I don’t agree with that.”
Osama bin Laden wrote later in his fatwa on how this retreat by US forces had emboldened his Al Quaida forces.
Here is a another look at Representative Murtha’s stand today sounding eerily familiar with his stance from 1993.
Texas Rainmaker has more on ’93.